Emma Lundh: Ex-Liverpool Ladies striker diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Last updated on .From the section Women's Football
Former Liverpool Ladies striker Emma Lundh has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
MS causes the immune system to attack the protective coating of nerves in the brain and spinal cord, and can affect vision, walking and balance.
Lundh, 27, was diagnosed in February, after years of struggling with fatigue.
She joined Liverpool Ladies in January 2016 but left after 10 months, with a year still to run on her deal, to return to her native Sweden.
"I began to be questioned," Lundh told Swedish news outlet SVT Sport, about her time in the Women's Super League.
"The coach really believed me, but was annoyed when he realised that my performance varied so much. My only focus, most days, was to keep myself awake. I did not hurry anything else."
Lundh, a Sweden international, was suffering with chronic symptoms of the incurable disease during the World Cup in Toronto in 2015.
"I slept through the entire World Cup," she said. "Kosse [team-mate Kosovare Asllani] brought me coffee in the mornings because she thought I was so tired.
"There was not a friend who did not comment on my fatigue."
After leaving Liverpool, Lundh went on to sign for Vittsjo, who play in the women's top tier in her home country, and her contract with the club expires at the end of the season in November.
She says she felt "destroyed" by her diagnosis but hopes she can continue playing.
"When I felt like I did, my football became the only thing in life to focus on and the only thing that made me actually happy with myself," Lundh said.
"When I was diagnosed, the first thing I thought was that I had to stop playing, the only thing I could always fall back on.
"That's probably why my image of myself was destroyed. I was angry with myself and my body, the one that was my tool for what I love.
"In February, I could not get up the stairs and in September I played football again. You never know what's happening in life and I cannot walk around and worry.
"And who knows, maybe there will be a cure in a few years."
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